To continue with my liquid soap saga, I spent all day yesterday in front of the computer. Not quite ready to admit defeat on Batch #1, I did a litmus test on the liquid soap. It is no wonder The Bibbed Wonder and my hands look red, dry, and cracked. The PH and alkalinity of Batch #1 are off the charts. When we tried to neutralize it with citric acid, it lost all of its body and was just flat, watery, foamless yuck. Sigh. I surrender. Batch #1 went down the drain.
With much more reading, formulating, and figuring, I came up with three formulations I will try today. My approach to these three batches is going to be completely different. Today, I will try the hot process method of making soap paste. Unlike cold process soap, hot processing requires cooking the lye out of the soap, speeding the saponification process. This process is going to take approximately three hours per batch. The first hour, the paste needs to be stirred every fifteen minutes or so to remove the air from the paste. One just allows the paste to simmer in a double boiler for the last two hours.
In all my research, cold process liquid soap is unheard of, except for the one recipe I found and tried. I tried, it failed, and now I move on. Today, I am trying a simple, basic formulation, a more complex formulation, and a truly luxurious formulation. I am most excited for the last. My day will be spent hovering over pots, more than likely fretting over a process I am not one hundred percent comfortable with, and saying small prayers that I don’t blow up the place. Today will be a learning process.
As you carry on with your day, dear reader, stay safe, be smart, and keep washing your hands. Fingers crossed, someday, very soon with liquid soap.
You’ve got this! Make sure you enjoy it too!
Success awaits you...